Articles by Section - NATION/WORLD

WASHINGTON (AP) - With higher taxes on the wealthy and billions in new spending, President Barack Obama's no-balance budget lays down an audacious challenge to Republicans who swept to full control of Congress last fall and now claim a mandate to eliminate deficits over the next decade.

ATLANTA (AP) - Messages of support were being offered Monday as people awaited word on singer Whitney Houston's daughter, who authorities say was found face down and unresponsive in a bathtub over the weekend in a suburban Atlanta townhome.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Troubled by consumer complaints and loopholes in state laws, federal regulators are putting together the first rules on payday loans aimed at helping cash-strapped borrowers avoid falling into a cycle of high-rate debt.

NEW YORK (AP) - Rod McKuen, the husky-voiced "King of Kitsch" whose avalanche of music, verse and spoken-word recordings in the 1960s and '70s overwhelmed critical mockery and made him an Oscar-nominated songwriter and one of the best-selling poets in history, has died. He was 81.

Archive By Section - NATION/WORLD

WASHINGTON (AP) - Two days after reopening diplomatic relations with Cuba, President Barack Obama said Friday he doesn't expect the effort to bring overnight change on the island, a quick end to the U.S. economic embargo or the likelihood that he will soon visit the communist nation.

REDONDO BEACH, Calif. (AP) - A driver hit a group of pedestrians outside a Southern California church as a Christmas service ended, killing three people - including two women in their 80s - and leaving up to nine others injured, police said.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Federal Reserve is edging closer to raising interest rates from record lows given a strengthening U.S. job market and economy. But it says it will be "patient" in determining when to raise rates.

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama declared the end of America's "outdated approach" to Cuba Wednesday, announcing the re-establishment of diplomatic relations as well as economic and travel ties with the communist island - a historic shift in U.S. policy that aims to bring an end to a half-century of Cold War enmity.

PENNSBURG, Pa. (AP) - An Iraq War veteran suspected of killing his ex-wife and five of her relatives was found dead of self-inflicted knife wounds Tuesday in the woods, ending a day-and-a-half manhunt that closed suburban Philadelphia schools and left people on edge.

VATICAN CITY (AP) - A sweeping Vatican investigation into Roman Catholic nuns in the U.S. that began amid fears they had become too feminist and secular ended up praising the sisters for their selfless work caring for the poor - a major shift in tone that reflected the social justice mindset of Pope Francis.